Song Wars
by levele3
Summary: Marianne Fay and Sherman "Swampy" Bog are both radio DJ's who work at rival stations. Both stations are suffering from low ratings as Marianne tries to ditch her boring morning show routine and Bog's late night rock show is slowly loosing it's popularity. When Marianne starts her own late night show the ratings go up, for both stations. A little bit "you've got mail."
1. Prolouge

**A/N I own nothing characters belong to George Lucas. I'm new to this fandom just giving this a try. Hope you enjoy!**

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"Mornings with Marianne and Roland" the cheery jingle rang out "six AM till noon, Monday to Friday on 42.9 FAE FM."

Sherman "Swampy" Bog had just turned on his car looking forward to a peaceful drive home from his late night shift at the radio station. It was too early for the happy couple on the rival station but his mother enjoyed listening to them. She believed they were a perfect couple that proved 'real love' still existed.

He groaned as the male half of the duo's voice came through the car speakers. Roland Fig had a sickening southern accent that twisted everything he said into something positive.

'There's an accident on the i90 but don't you worry about that we'll get you though it with this next song' or 'major construction is blocking Main Street, maybe your boss is stuck in traffic too!'

This morning Roland greeted the listeners with a grating 'morning y'all' and Bog made a fake gagging noise and reached out to turn off the stereo all together when his co-host spoke.

"Thanks for tuning in, we _love_ spending our mornings with you!" Marianne Fay on the other hand was pleasant to listen to. Her voice didn't make him want to cut off his ears and she usually gave Roland a run for his money when debating on the topic of the day.

FAE FM was known for their compilation of new and classic pop songs and lite rock. They had no late night program to rival Bog's and most of their ratings came from the morning program.

Bog pulled the rusty old Buick out into traffic and began his drive home. He was the king of late night radio on 30.9 DARK FM. He played mostly classic rock and heavy metal. During the day Stuff and Thang played newer music under the supervision of his mother Griselda the station manager. He had never got used to the fact everyone else was just getting up to go to work when he was just getting off.

"Marianne I've got me a serious question for you this fine spring morning" Roland's voice cracked through the speakers.

"And what might that be?" she asked back, a little tense.

"Marianne, darlin', light o' my life, will you marry me?"

Bog hit the brakes a little too hard to stop himself from running into the car ahead of him. The recoil slamming him back into his seat as a high pitched squeal of surprise peaked the audio levels emitted through the tiny stereo.

"Yes of course!" Marianne gushed excitedly into her mic.

Elvis Presley's _I can't help falling in love with you_ started to play and that was his breaking point.

Bog groaned as if in physical pain then with a quick snap of his wrist shut the radio off. He hated spring and love, but declarations of love the cheesy he thought being proposed to over the radio like that. She should have said no. If his mother had been listening he was sure she would have thought it 'cute', maybe even 'romantic.'

Traffic started moving again and he looked up as if to ask 'why me?' and saw to his displeasure a billboard for FAE FM with a giant picture of the happy couple plastered all over it. Roland with his shiny blond curls and green eyes, Bog thought he might have to pull over and be sick. In the photo Roland was twirling a stray piece of hair around his finger he and Marianne were leaning against each other's back. Marianne had short brown hair with blonde highlights that had that artificial windswept look that came from half a bottle of gel. Big bright hazel eyes, a perfect pearly white smile shone down on all of Meadow City. There would never be billboards with his face on it that's for sure.

He had an exaggeratedly pointed chin with a permanent four o'clock shadow and high sharp cheekbones. Untameable eyebrows that looked more like a pair of fuzzy caterpillars occupied part of his wide forehead and his mossy brown hair that stuck up at odd angles in the front was now flecked with grey at 36 years of age, and his skin was a pale grey colour from spending most of his time indoors. He was tall and awkward standing at just over seven feet and his arms were too long no matter how he held them. His eyes were too close together, his ears were too big, and smack dab in the middle was a large hooked nose. His teeth were crooked and a few were even chipped, his family being too poor to afford dental work when he was little. He was always surprised mirrors didn't crack when he smiled at them. It was a face only a mother could love.

He had tried online dating once a few years back but it hadn't worked out. It had been great while the two sent messages over the computer but when they finally decided to meet the woman had never shown up. Bog had picked his favourite café a small quiet place where they could talk that had a large window that looked out on a park. Bog suspected the woman must have walked by and saw him waiting inside and left. He had sent her numerous e-mails and messages but she'd never replied to any of them. With no apology and no explanation, he had simply given up on the idea of ever finding love again.

His mother a stout and stubborn woman would not give up on him that easy and often brought around new potential female hostesses to intrigue him. No Bog thought as he pulled his car into the underground parking of the apartment building where he lived with his mother, he was better off on his own. He didn't need anyone else, he didn't need love. Love was for the weak, it turned order into chaos. Besides his work schedule left little to no time for dating, he planned it that way.

Bog looked out the window of his sparse bedroom it looked like it was going to be a nice day, too bad he had to sleep. With that he shut the curtain blocking out all the light and climbed into bed falling asleep almost instantly.


	2. Chapter 1

For the last two months Marianne's wedding had been the talk of Meadow City and the day had finally arrived bright and sunny. Social media sites were buzzing and #FayFig was trending on Twitter. Marianne was dashing about to and fro as her younger sister Dawn helped her with finishing touches, notably the daisy chain crown. It was difficult because Marianne wouldn't sit still she was flitting around humming Beyoncé's _Crazy in Love_.

Marianne had been up at the crack of dawn with nerves and had switched on the bedside radio in the hotel room, to her surprise it was tuned to DARK FM. Marianne didn't often listen to the late night show, the "Swamp King" broadcasted between 10PM and 5AM and as Marianne had to be up early to host her own show she missed out on the DARK side of radio. She liked the genre of music he played and his voice, a rough Scottish brogue, was soothing in its own way.

"Before signing off today I'd like to wish a happy wedding day to the love birds over at FAE. Marianne and Roland, this one's for you." Billy Idol's _White Wedding_ started playing and Marianne tried and failed to not laugh. She had never met the King of late night radio but he sure had a sense of humor she thought.

It was the perfect start to a perfect day! Nothing anyone said or did was going to bring her down. She was young, a spry 24 and in love, and today she was getting married.

Around mid-morning, when Dawn had finally gotten her to sit still the pre-wedding jitters came and Marianne became self-conscious.

"Do you think Roland loves me, for me?" she asked giving Dawn a quirky half-smile.

"How could he not" her sister dismissed with a wave of her hand. "He asked you to marry him, didn't he?"

"Yeah but he keeps trying to get dad to make changes to the radio station and I like it the way it is." Marianne couldn't explain this gnawing feeling that had suddenly come over her. Something wasn't right.

"Just wait till he sees you. I promise the look on his face will make it up to you." Dawn gushed trying to lighten her sister's unexplainable dark mood.

"Yeah I guess" Marianne conceded trying to convince herself more so than Dawn.

It was almost noon and Marianne was just about ready to go when she overheard one of the groomsmen telling Dawn no one had seen Roland yet. That was odd, hadn't someone checked his room? Surely he received a wakeup call just like everyone else?

"I still have his boutonniere" the groomsman said holding out the pale pink rose. Marianne didn't even know the guy's name; they all looked the same to her. She hadn't really met a lot of Roland's friends before today.

"I'll give it to him" Marianne said grabbing it from the guy, she took off running down the hall in her heels and long flowy dress. Thankful she had gone for a sleek and slender design rather than princess poufy. It was sleeveless and white feathers trimmed the V neck and around the back of neck.

"Wait, Marianne! It's bad luck if he sees you!" Dawn had called after her.

Marianne ignored the warning marching down the hall to the room she had booked for her and Roland to spend their wedding night in. It was the honeymoon suite at the Fairmont Hotel the nicest place to have a wedding in the whole city. They had a beautiful botanical garden that was perfect for the kind of ceremony Marianne had always dreamed of having. Simple yet elegant, it was to be a small ceremony with only close friends and family in attendance. Roland had urged her for something bigger, grander but it wasn't what _she_ wanted.

Her and Roland hadn't been together very long they had only been officially dating for a few months when he'd asked her on air to marry him. She had thought it romantic at the time, if a little hasty and now less than two months later they were getting married. 'Fools rush in' indeed.

Marianne knocked on the door earnestly and called out, "Roland, are you in there?"

At first there was no answer but then she heard what sounded like a woman's giggle.

She banged on the door until at last her fiancé dared to show his face.

"Buttercup" he gushed upon seeing her, his southern drawl coming out strong. He twirled an errant blonde curl around his finger and leaned awkwardly against the door frame. He wasn't even close to being ready, dressed only in the white terry-towel bathrobe supplied by the hotel. He did his best to block the room behind his broad shoulders but there was no hiding the petite cleaning maid still lounging in the bed.

Marianne's eyes flashed in anger and she threw his boutonniere down on the ground and squashed it under her heeled foot before running back down the hall tears streaming down her face. If he tried calling after her she didn't hear him. There was nothing he could have said anyway to make her change her mind. They were finished.

Dawn was still waiting outside her room in her bridesmaid dress and was shocked by the state her sister was in.

"Marianne, what happened?" she asked full of genuine concern.

Not yet 21 Dawn was so innocent, so blind to the cruelty of the world that Marianne couldn't face it to tell her the truth. Dawn had short flings she had never really fallen in love and so had never had her heart broken. Marianne balked at her own naivety; Roland was a lying cheater and she hadn't really known him at all. She had been a fool who had merely fallen for his outward appearance of Southern charm and good looks. Did he even know her favourite band was ELO? Or that her favourite colour was purple? Had they ever had a 'real' conversation?

No it was better to preserve Dawn's innocence in light of the whole ordeal so instead she said, "Tell dad the wedding is off" through some painful sobs before shutting the door gently in her sister's face, tears still coming freely, nose all snotty, and mascara ringing her eyes.

"Well folks the painful truth is out, the wedding of the year has been called off indefinitely for undisclosed reasons. I mean I could have told you it wasn't going to last _long_ , but I thought they'd at least make it to the ceremony." The cynical Scot said.

Marianne had shut herself away in the hotel room refusing to come out for anyone including her father, her sister, and Roland himself. She had cried herself to sleep sometime late in the afternoon and woke up again just before 10 and had the brilliant idea that listing to some classic rock music might help take her mind off the awful day. She couldn't have been more wrong.

It had started off alright he had opened the program with his classic intro song _Welcome to the Jungle_ and followed it with _Thunderstruck_. It had gone downhill after that. The Swamp King's timber was grating tonight as he mocked her failed wedding. He had teased and taunted her unaware she was listening in. He speculated on the possible reasons for the wedding falling through and came uncomfortably close to the truth.

At one point Marianne had the hotel phone in her hand ready to call in and knock him off his pedestal he was having such a go at her expense. A few others had called in on her behalf sticking up for her, saying she probably had a good reason. Others, mostly men seemed to take Roland's side automatically.

"Sure, everyone defends the princess but no one has thought about the consequences this will have on their little morning show" Swampy teased cruelly, "and what about poor Roland? Next caller, you're on the air."

"Leave her alone" a small but mighty voice came through the radio and Marianne perked up. _Dawn?_ She thought.

"Clearly you have never been in love or had your heart broken or else you would know what she is going through and leave her alone" yup that was Dawn defending her big sister to the last iota. A wave of affection ran through Marianne and all she wanted was to give Dawn a big hug.

On the other hand Dawn's abrasiveness had made the Swamp King go silent finally striking a cord.

"Yes, well then." He made a throat clearing noise then introduced the next song and Marianne switched off the radio.

Marianne was glad she hadn't listened to the whole thing when her father presented her with a transcript of the program the next morning at breakfast in the hotel's luxurious dining room. Oberon Fay was a large man and a kind and caring father. He ran the FAE radio station but like any good father he didn't always completely understand his daughters.

"What's this?" she asked after glancing down at the paper and not really looking at it.

"Swampy made some interesting points on his show last night" her father said, pointing at the paper. "With you and Roland not speaking who _will_ host the morning show?"

"I can do it alone" she said, brimming with sudden confidence. Before hiring Roland, Marianne had been promised her own show. Her father's excuse at the time was that it was better to have two hosts but Marianne had the nagging feeling he believed she couldn't do it on her own.

"You, what about Roland?" her father asked. "He had some good ideas you know about switching genres. Country music _is_ very popular now, we should think about adding some in."

"I hate country music" Marianne growled curling her hands into tiny fists, "as for Roland fire his ass!" She was not losing her job over her pinhead of an ex. She would flat out refuse to work with him if that's what it took.

"Marianne, you know I can't do that. There's contracts and paper work that needs to be fixed. If you told me what happened." Her father pleaded then stopped seeing the look of pain cross her face.

"We've got a week to decide" she said diplomatically if a little surly.

Just then Sunny Leaf bounced into the dining room, he moved to the tunes blasting through his red Beats headphones and Marianne had a great idea. Sunny was a good friend to Dawn and enjoyed working at the station as a technical assistant but he had the personality of a host, he was outgoing and quick-witted.

"What about Sunny as my co-host?" she asked keeping her options open.

Sunny stopped in his tracks when Marianne said his name.

"Sunny is getting his own program" Oberon said wisely.

"He is?" asked Marianne a little stunned.

"I am?" asked Sunny even more stunned than Marianne.

"Yes, I was going to tell you later today. You'll have the noon to four PM slot." He explained.

"Wow, that's a real honour sir, thanks, I won't let you down." Sunny shook Mr. Fay's hand very enthusiastically before going off to breakfast.

"So who's going to be our new tech?" Marianne asked, afraid of the answer.

"Well your sister is keen about the prospect; she'll be a temporary replacement until I can hire someone new. I'll be honest with you honey, the ratings are down, we might not be in business much longer." His disappointment showed.

Marianne was floored. She had worked her whole life in radio it was the only thing she knew. She had gone to the best broadcasting school expecting to take over the station.

"I really want to try it on my own, dad, please." She gave up her best smile, the one used for those awful promo pictures and her father relented.

"Alright honey, we'll see." He said.

"You got a lot of nerve showing up here this morning" Marianne hissed at Roland as he took his usual seat across from her in the recording room the following Monday morning. Cup of coffee in hand he looked too relaxed acting as if nothing was wrong.

"Me? You were the one who called off the wedding, remember?" he asked back cool and calm as ever.

"You cheated on me, _remember?_ " she hissed back unable to believe he would stoop so low.

"Alright now everybody we go live in five minutes" Marianne's father said coming into the control room.

"Dad, what is _he_ doing here?" Marianne asked accusingly, pointing her finger at Roland.

"He works here Marianne, you two will just have to get along for the next little while. I'm sorry." He turned and walked back to the control panel where a yawning Dawn sat behind the overwhelming array of knobs and levers.

After a week of fill-ins and guest stars Bog turned on his car to hear Marianne's voice coming through the speakers.

"Dawn, she's my sister, is in the control room this morning" Marianne pointed out proudly.

There was a moment of feedback and then Dawn's voice could be heard, "good morning Meadow City!"

Bog wasn't sure his eardrums could handle that much perky this early in the day.

"Thank you Dawn" Marianne said dryly, obviously suffering from the same problem.

"And now the weather" Bog tuned out as Marianne yammered on about possible rain showers and cloudy periods, he just wanted to be at home and in bed.

"Please give a warm welcome to our guest this morning Matchmaker and Love Guru extraordinaire Sugar Plum!" Roland introduced their guest.

Bog almost couldn't believe his ears how were the two exes expected to continue working together; that was a cruel form of punishment. He curled his nose in disgust at the radio at the mention of Sugar Plum. It had been her dating website he had tried and failed so miserably on.

"Miss Plum, what do you suggest is a good way to win back a woman's heart?" he asked laying on his accent thick. Bog could almost picture him leaning on the recoding table and making gooey-eyes at Marianne.

"Don't" came Marianne vicious reply.

Plum had obviously been booked in for the happy couple's first day back to talk all about the joys of being married and in love. They must not have been able to cancel on such short notice. Marianne had the disposition of an icicle and Roland was acting as if nothing was wrong.

"Oh honey you can never go wrong with a little apology and a cute song." Plum replied in her own perky tone.

"Ugh, don't give him ideas" Marianne made a gag noise and Bog couldn't help it when he gave a small chuckle. Apparently he and Marianne now had something in common, they both hated love.

"Sounds like you got your work cut out for you baby, you may need something a little stronger. May I suggest my new love potion?" The guru plugged her latest project.

 _A love potion?_ Bog thought skeptically, he was fairly sure it already existed and was called alcohol. What con would this woman come up with next?

Roland of course fell for the ploy.

"Are you saying I need a love potion?" He asked suspiciously

"Honey it's so easy anyone can use it, and it's guaranteed to work." Plum boasted.

"Guaranteed you say?" he asked clearly coming around to the idea.

"Don't even think about coming anywhere near me with that" Marianne suddenly jumped in, frosty as ever.

"Ah now Buttercup don't get all suspicious." Roland cooed. Marianne narrowed her eyes at him.

"And that cues our next song." Marianne jibed, Elvis Presley's _Suspicious Minds_ started playing and Bog relaxed a little, he liked Elvis.

Summer construction season was well under way and the traffic this morning was very stop-and-go. Bon Jovi's _you give love a bad name_ followed suit and that was followed by the morning traffic report. Clearly the two were taking digs at each other with their song choices and Bog found it mildly entertaining.

Sugar Plum took a few calls, and gave out some more _awful_ relationship advice. Marianne set up another song and Pink's _So What_ started playing. This was the last song Bog heard from the morning show as he reached his apartment just as it ended.

He had his own problems to worry about. His mother had informed him his own ratings were starting to slip. During the day DARK had very few listeners Bog's show was basically what kept the station running if his ratings slipped anymore the whole thing would be shut down.

Hosting a radio show was all he had, he liked the late night gig he could play whatever he wanted and say whatever he wanted.

"Ever since you started taking digs at that poor girl your ratings have gone down." His mother had told him this morning.

For the past week almost every show Bog had brought up something about the failed wedding between Marianne and Roland and now he was paying for it. The worst part was every time he did, he remembered that caller from the first night who had called him out on his bullshit. He had known or at least thought he knew what to be in love felt like, and the heartbreak that came afterwards had made him terribly bitter. Marianne was now suffering through the same type of thing and he'd been less than kind about it.


	3. Chapter 2

Marianne was fuming by the time noon rolled around and Sunny took their place in the recording studio. Roland escorted Professor Plum out of the building still asking for hints and tips about winning back Marianne.

"Here's Sunny" he said, "with your tunes at noon." He gave a small awkward laugh then went straight into playing. Sunny played a good mixture of reggae and hip-hop, keeping the tone light and fresh for the afternoon crowd.

Marianne turned her murderous glare in her father's direction. "Father, may I have a word" she gritted out as calmly as she could.

"Not now sweetie I've got an important business meeting." He said, clearly deflecting.

"You said I could have my own show!" Marianne bellowed at him doing nothing to help her cause.

"I said we would see, Roland really is sorry for the misunderstanding and wanted to give it another try." Her father was grasping at straws.

People liked Roland with his good looks and quaint way with words. He was the kind of young man grandmothers adored. Guys wanted to be him and girls wanted to be with him. He couldn't understand how his daughter had fallen out of favour with him so fast especially when she couldn't give him a reason. As long as people liked Roland their ratings would stay up.

"Misunderstanding? He called it a misunderstanding?" Marianne screeched in frustration.

Marianne stormed from the radio station determined to be anywhere but there. She hopped into her red convertible Volkswagen Beetle and drove off, her short hair whipping in the wind. Tomorrow would be another day, a better day.

Tuesday was not a better day. When Bog got in his car to leave work and head home for the day he had no idea what torture he would have to endure. He was tempted to just turn off the stereo all together but his interest was piqued with the first words he heard.

"I'm here to apologize" Roland's voice came through the old speakers loud and clear, "with a song."

He hit play before the mic's were turned off and there was an awful noise as a slightly country sounding version of _Come on Marianne_ started to play he hadn't heard before.

Marianne actually felt her jaw come unhinged and was left momentarily speechless.

"Oh well done you, how long did it take you to find a song with my _name_ in it?" Marianne asked her voice coming in over the music. She sounded furious.

"Dawn put on a song" she shouted to her sister. Marianne lunged for the tape recorder clutched protectively in Roland's hand as he held it close to the mic.

"Woah now Darlin' just back it up" Roland protested as he slowly inched away from the mic.

Dawn finally found the perfect song and hit play, Kelly Clarkson's _Stronger_ was suddenly blasting through the speakers only Dawn hadn't turned off the studio mic's and the background noise could still be heard by anyone listening in.

"Give me that tape recorder so I can shove it down your throat." Marianne threatened. The pause button must have got hit in the scuffle as _Come on Marianne_ could no longer be heard playing.

"Aw now Buttercup, ya didn't let my song finish" Roland interjected coming back in to proximity with a mic. There was a ruffling commotion and he hit play on his recorder, his own melodic voice floating through the airwaves.

Marianne pushed Roland away from the mic and _Stronger_ could be heard playing again. Marianne forced him up against the wall by the door, she smiled gleefully and gave him a push through it as she waved and said "Bye-bye."

The little display was followed by the sound of a door slamming.

"Now that was fun" Marianne declared as she sat back at the desk, beaming brightly at her sister and father through the glass.

A small sounding "Awkward" escaped Dawn in the impending silence.

"Dawn, honey, were still on the air" came a hushed man's voice that could only be the station manager.

"Oh!" Dawn exclaimed then promptly hit the off switch and set up a commercial break.

Bog wasn't exactly sure what he had just listened to. There was a second of silence then a commercial for this summer's Shakespeare production came on. "Come see the magic and mayhem that is William Shakespeare's _A Midsummers Night's Dream_ " a booming voice declared "running from now until the end of August located in Puck's Corner of Meadow City's Field Park."

By the time a gum commercial played and an ad for some greatest hits CD ended Marianne was back on air and evidently taking calls.

"I thought that was kind of romantic" said some guy who sounded like he was talking through the wrong end of the phone.

 _You Would_ Bog thought, he could feel a migraine coming on. It wasn't romantic; no body deserved what had just happened to that poor girl. It was bad enough that idiot had proposed to her on air and now had further humiliated her by trying to apologize for his actions with a song about a cheater.

"Aw, poor Rollie" cooed a teenaged bimbo.

"Next caller please" Marianne said, hanging up on the bimbo. "Hi you're on the air" she said when another call was patched through.

"You go girl!" said a woman with a grating voice.

"Mother?" he asked the radio out loud, shock evident on his features to anyone who may have spied him through his car window.

"You're an independent woman and you don't need no man!" Yup that was his mother; she had one of those voices like Fan Drescher or Meggie Wheeler.

"Oh, well thank you" Marianne responded sheepishly to his mother's compliment.

Two weeks ago she had been their biggest supporter and now she was glad the girl was solo? It wasn't worth it for his lack of sleep brain to process.

The next caller was another woman who after commending her on her style in giving Roland the boot began propositioning her.

"I have a son, he's single too, I'd just know you'd hit it off" the caller gushed.

"Listen lady, I'm sure your son is a lovely person," Marianne began, and Bog could hear the eye rolling, "but until I met a guy who can take me by the hand, look into my eyes, and I don't want to hit him, I'd rather be single." She finished dryly. "And let's face it that's _never_ gunna happen."

Something inside Bog stirred, he liked this girl's spunk and bite back attitude. He never thought he would find someone as cynical and uncaring as him. She was feisty, with a great sense of humor, and emotionally unavailable, exactly his type.

Marianne took two more calls before giving the traffic report and popping on _Hit the road Jack_. Bog laughed heartily at Marianne's open shaming of her ex, between that and Roland's own faults it would give him excellent fodder for his show tonight.

"I have no idea what I ever saw in him" Marianne shouted in frustration after going off air "that good for nothing liar."

Dawn was giving her sympathy eyes through the glass when their father walked back in with a tall artificially blonde woman in tow.

"Girls I'd like you to meet Mrs. Elizabeth Scales" he said.

"Please call me Lizzy, and it's Miss." She was the most intimidating woman Marianne had ever seen. She looked sharp in a short black pencil skirt and matching blazer, completing the look with a light grey blouse with dark heavy eye make-up and red alligator heels with a matching handbag to pop.

Marianne steeped forward to politely shake her hand and noticed the woman kept her nails long and filed into a point.

"Hi-ya Miss Lizzy" Dawn cooed excitedly, "so are you here to be the new host?"

"Oh, no darling after the fiasco the past two days have been, I'm here to be the program director." She smiled what Marianne assumed was supposed to be a friendly smile but it came off looking like she was going to devour Dawn.

Just then Sunny walked through the door backwards and walked right into Lizzy. He was humming _three little birds_ and carrying a box of vinyl records, wearing his Beats as usual.

The spindly woman spun around with shocking agility and clamped her claws down on his shoulder. "Ah, and you must be Sunny" she breathed down his neck.

Sunny gulped and his eyes widened at the lengthy shellac nails imbedded in his shoulder, "Yes mam" he said, his voice small with a 'please don't eat me' undertone.

"I'm here to change a few things Sunny." She explained, giving a repeat of her man-eating grin causing Sunny to squirm.

After the week she had Marianne just wanted to rock out to some classic tunes and relax for a while. That's why around 9:30 on Friday night she was sneaking back into the radio station. She had waved and smiled at Mr. Pare the elderly nighttime security guard and informed him she just had some paperwork to do and not to worry. Instead of heading to the main control room Marianne found her way to the practice space students used when training. She would play a few girl-power songs about how it was better to be alone and that all guys sucked and then she'd be on her way.

A thought struck her as she sat down behind the switchboard though. This was her chance to prove all those naysayers wrong. She could run a radio show all by herself, she would show Roland and her father how wrong they were. It was her turn to take digs at Swampy. Late night meant no censors.

The longer she sat there the bolder Marianne became. She started turning on the gear, warming up the mic, she was going to do this. As ten o'clock drew nearer and people began turning on their radios to tune into DARK they got the surprise of their lives when a gruff female voice spat out "Welcome to the Bitching Hour" and kicked things off with _I'll Never Fall in Love Again_. She followed that with Cher's version of _Love Hurts_ and Quaterflash's _Harden my Heart_.

Pat Benatar's _Love is a Battlefield_ had just finished playing when a bodiless voice from somewhere behind her spoke.

"Would you quit it with the breakup songs already?"

Bog had sat down behind his work station with everything ready to go. At first he hadn't noticed his mother had left her radio on, the one she used to listen to FAE in the mornings. This time of night they were off air and only a faint hint of white noise was leaking through the speakers. It was a sound that brought a strange comfort to him, made him feel not so alone. He got underway with AC/DC's _For those About to Rock_ and thought no more about.

When he went to start his opening monologue though Bog could suddenly hear a strange background noise as if someone was standing behind him with their iPod turned up too loud. He struggled through his set up speech and put on another song until at last he could no longer concentrate. He took off his headphones and spinning around in his chair was shocked to discover the source of the music was in fact the radio.

He was furious; there had been no mention of FAE starting their own late night program he would surely lose all his listeners if Roland was running the show. It quickly became obvious it was not Roland playing the music though. He steadily became more and more annoyed by the playlist until he had finally bellowed at the damn thing "Would you quit it with the breakup songs already?"

Unfortunately his latest song had just stopped playing and his mic had turned back on. People listening in would have heard him and have no clue as to what he was going on about. For a moment there was nothing but white noise, and then it spoke back.

Marianne looked all around in confusion for a moment before realising the voice had come from an old forgotten radio behind her.

"What?" she asked out loud, clearly she was hallucinating from lack of sleep and if anyone was listening to her at all they would think she was talking to herself.

"Are, are you talking to me?" the radio asked slightly surprised, Marianne vaguely wondered if all radios had Scottish accents.

"Do you see anyone else here?" she asked losing her cool, opening her hands in a palms up gesture. Now she was arguing with a radio, maybe she should call it a night.

Bog looked around his own control room wondering if this was some kind of a prank by his co-workers. He thought about calling out for Stuff or Thang, or even Brutus but he was sure he was alone.

"What do you want?" he finally asked the radio raising an eyebrow at it. He had spent hundreds of nights alone here had he finally gone around the bend?

There was a moment of silence in which Bog crept closer to the radio, maybe he had fallen asleep and dreamed the whole thing? Bog almost had his ear right up to the speakers when Twisted Sisters _I wanna Rock_ came blaring out of it sending him scrambling back from it coving his ears. Not because he didn't like the song, he just didn't like it at that decibel.

"Well, well" he finally drawled into his mic, "for those of you not in the know it seems we have a new friend over at FAE. A tough girl with a since of humor it seems." He twisted his lip in a cruel smile he knew no one could see; it was time to have some fun.

Marianne couldn't believe the old radio still worked let-alone was tuned into DARK. She hadn't even noticed its din while she was blasting her own music trying to purge Roland from her mind. What did she want? He had some nerve asking her that. She wanted independence, she wanted her own show, she wanted to rock! Instead of saying all this out loud she condensed her emotions into a song.

It wasn't long before she got her reply. A grungy rock version of Elvis Presley's _Trouble_ starts playing, and it's like a response and a warning. So the almighty Swamp King wanted to play did he? She wouldn't disappoint, the next few hours were going to be a lot of fun.


End file.
